Model Student
by Odette Callista Dione
Summary: Having been cast away from her life at home, Odette is faced with a decision. Hate this new world she finds herself in, or attempt to make the most of her new life. At the same time, she struggles with a secret she's willing to do anything to keep hidden
1. Chapter 1: The New Girl

**Chapter 1: The New Girl  
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In the still of a cool day, a young girl with long, white hair and a cape sits alone on a bench. She is quiet, scribbling into a journal. She wears a blank expression, completely emotionless. But inside, she is screaming.

"Yes, Mom, this is just what I needed, a journal!" She scribbles with anger, "How mysterious! You give me a million dollars; enroll me at this stupid academy! I already stick out like a sore thumb and now you expect me to carry around a journal with a huge crystal dangling from it? What is this for anyway, documentation of my new life in purgatory? It is bad enough you let them send me away! And as if I'd ever write my secrets down in a journal! That's just asking for trouble!"

She closes the journal and lets out a long sigh. Suddenly, the school bell rings. The young girl grabs her book bag and heads into the school. Having missed every class on her first day, there was one period she was not going to miss, lunch.

Entering the cafeteria she glances around at her fellow students whose eyes suddenly fall on her. Gritting her teeth, she grabs a tray and steps in line, startling the boy next to her so much that he almost drops his fork. She sits quietly at an empty table across the cafeteria. She instantly catches the eye of one of the boys in a group of friends sitting at the table in front of her.

"Odd," Yumi nudges him noticing he'd suddenly fell out of conversation, "You okay?" 

Odd sits silent, eyes focused. Yumi follows his gaze to the next table to the thin, white-haired child.

She grins, "Oh, I see. It's a new girl. So why don't you go invite her to sit with us?" 

Odd becomes flustered. "Very funny," he blushes, "And be quiet, she'll hear you." 

Ulrich stares at his good buddy in confusion, "Since when have you been too nervous to talk to a girl?" 

Odd bows his head in shame, "I don't really know what it is. She just sort of struck me as unreachable." 

All four of his friends gawk at him. This was definitely a first. Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremie all want to see this mysterious girl with their own eyes, but don't for the fear she will think they are staring. Odd sits still with his half-eaten lunch in front of him. Feeling concerned, Yumi stands and heads over to the oblivious new student. 

"Hey," She reaches out a hand, "My name is Yumi Ishyama."  
>The young girl looks up and shakes her hand as if by habit and not as a kind gesture. Her hair reaches past the chair where she is sitting and has a silver luster. Her face is like a china doll. Yumi notices this and momentarily loses her train of thought. "M- My friends and I noticed you over here alone," Yumi says coming back to reality, "Would you like to sit with us?" <p>

The girl nods and follows Yumi to the table. Yumi moves her tray and motions to the seat next to Odd, who is staring wide-eyed at Ulrich Stern across from him. Jeremie and Aelita are choking back laughter, but become frozen at the sight of the young girl before them. Yumi smirks. 

Odd, feeling defeated, quickly regains his composure and turns a wink to the angelic figure who now sat beside him. "I suppose I should introduce myself," He smiles playfully now, "My name is Odd Della Robbia. You're new here, aren't you?" The girl nods, looking down at the giant proportions of food on both of their trays. "So what is your name?" He asks looking slightly irritated with her dazed silence. 

"My name," The girl says with a soft voice, "My name is Odette." 

"Full name?" Ulrich asks becoming impatient. 

"Odette Callista Dione," she says, folding her napkin and laying it on her lap. The five friends look at each other, and then their eyes return to the girl. Odette shrugs, "My mother had a think for astrology." Suddenly, a large hand from behind lands on Odette's shoulder. She turns to see a tall man in a red jacket and a headband glaring down at her. 

"Ah, Jim!" Odd says, noticing the shocked expression on Odette's face, "You're looking rather handsome today. The girls will be after you like mad. You better hide right now!" 

"I'm not falling for that one, Della Robbia. Your little friend here has been reported AWOL in all of her classes today," Jim says. Odd sits down silently. "Well, Dinone-" 

"It's Dione, sir." 

"Dinone, Dione, you've still earned yourself an hour of detention for skipping classes. It's your first day so I won't be so tough on you, but don't make this a habit. 

"Yes, sir," Odette bows. 

"That's better, very polite. Now come with me, Mr. Delmas wants to speak with you." Laying her napkin on her tray, she stands, grabs her things, and passes Jim on the way out. "Now listen, Della Robbia, I don't want you setting a bad example for our new students," Jim says before continuing after Odette. 

Jim leads Odette to the principal's office and knocks on the door. "Come in," Says a voice from inside. They open the door and enter. Inside sits principal Delmas. He eyes the new student. "Dione," He begins, "I want you to be aware that Kadic is a strict academy. Truancy will not be tolerated. You understand?" 

Odette nods, "It won't happen again, sir." 

"Very well," Delmas pauses, "But would you care to inform me as to why you would skip all of your classes on the first day?" 

Odette looks to her feet and shakes her head. Then she remembers, "Sir, have you found me a dorm?"  
>Delmas sighs, "I have, indeed, though I haven't told her yet." He paused and scratched his chin. <p>

"Your daughter, Elizabeth, is it? The only student without a roommate," Odette says, interrupting his thoughts. 

"H-How do you know? Have you met Elizabeth?" Mr. Delmas asks startled. 

"I have not." Odette shakes her head. "It was only a guess." 

"I see," He says, not convinced, "Well, yes. You will be sharing a room with my daughter Elizabeth. I will have a bed for you by curfew tonight and I will inform my daughter soon enough." 

"Mr. Delmas, sir!" Jim jumps into conversation excitedly, "Have you noticed this girl's posture? It's perfect, the best I've seen for a child her age!" 

Mr. Delmas observes the young student, "Well, Jim, it would seem you are right." Delmas sighs and sits back in his chair. "You may leave now, child, class is starting. Perhaps you should attend this one."  
>Jim exits the room without a further word. <p>

On the way out, Odette pauses at the door. "And I am not a spoiled brat, sir," she says with a frown, and then leaves before more can be said.


	2. Chapter 2: A Gift

**Chapter 2: A Gift**

Classes end. Odette opens the door to her dorm and begins to look around. Her things are already there and sitting on top of a twin-sized bed, just for her. The larger bed, along with the rest of the furniture has been scooted over in the corner to make room for her and a new, smaller dresser has been slid in next to Sissi's.

Odette sighs. "She's not going to be happy about this," she thinks. She sets her things beside her bed and opens the smaller suitcase. In it are neatly folded, white, satin bed sheets. She folds these in half and spreads them out on her bed. She tucks the thin pillow into her lace-lined pillow case and fluffs it the best she can. The last thing she pulls out of the suitcase is a white quilt with hand-embroidered pink roses and a big stuffed bear with a silver bow and pink jacket.

Odette grins at the familiarity of her side of the room. Then her attention turns to the closet, no space left for her. She begins packing the drawers of the new dresser with her clothes. Then she decides to use the smaller suitcase for her jewelry and journal, before sliding it under her bed to hide it. She pulls a small box of chocolates from one of her bags and sits down on the side of her bed. Just then, the door opens.

In walks Elizabeth Delmas. Her hair is long and black, and her make-up has been neatly done. She wears a cute pink t-shirt with a yellow headband in her hair. Her eyes widen at the sight of her room and the silver-haired girl with the white, satin sheets on her bed. "Don't tell me my father gave you those bed sheets!" she said closing the door behind her.

Odette smirks at the thought. As if it was customary to receive bed sheets worth at least 5 grand from the principal on your first day. "I brought these from home, actually," Odette says holding out a chocolate in a gold wrapper. "Here, would you like one?"

Sissi takes the chocolate and examines it, then pops it into her mouth. The flavor is exquisite, better than any candy she had ever tasted before. Truly this girl must belong to a family of exceptional wealth. Sissi grins and tosses her book bag down next to her bed. She removes the headband and begins to brush her hair. She turns to her new roommate. "It looks like we're going to be good friends," She grins.

Odette nods and tucks the chocolates back into her suitcase. "You think so?"

"Oh, I know so," Sissi says, sitting down the brush and fixing the headband back into her hair. "Well, I'm off to the mall now! Would you like to come?"

Odette shakes her head dazed, "Thank you, but not today."

"Oh, you mustn't feel well. Well, maybe this Saturday," She says as she leaves the room.

Odette feels a pit in her stomach. She can already tell this girl will be trouble. She props her feet up and leans back on her pillow, putting on her headphones. The music takes her away, from this world, from the unfairness of everything, just like it always has. As she begins to daze out, she remembers the friendly faces that greeted her at lunch today, not leaving her to eat alone. She comes to and removes the headphones. "I believe I shall thank them for that," she says to herself, reaching into one of her suitcases and pulling out a silver box wrapped with a bow. She sighs "I hope the lunchroom is empty."

Odette enters the lunchroom and looks around. No students. However, there is still one lunch lady finishing up the cleaning. Odette sighs, "It figures," She heads over to the woman, who is up to her elbows in dirty dishwater. "I'll take care of that," Odette says. The lunch lady looks up, startled.

"Take care of what?" The woman says, shaken by the young lady before her.

"The dishes, I'll finish washing them. I need to use your stove."

The woman gawks at her stunned, "W-Well…" She stutters, "The stove is not for student use."

"I only need the stove for half an hour. I will never report you. No one will ever know you allowed me to use it."

"I- I cannot. I would be fired for sure."

Odette lowers her head annoyed, looking at the box in her hands. "Fine," She mutters under her breath, "If that's the way you want it." The woman is still staring at her in utter bewilderment. Odette slowly raises her head and stares straight into the woman's eyes. Nothing is said. After a moment, the woman removes her arms from the dishwater and walks out.

Odette stares at the box in her arms again. She shrugs, "It couldn't be helped." She walks over to the counter and pulls all of the ingredients from the box.


	3. Chapter 3: Two Roses

**Chapter 3: Two Roses**

Each gift is wrapped up neatly and tied with a shiny ribbon. Odette decides to wash the dishes the lunch lady left behind as she promised, as well as the ones she used to make the presents. As she is finishing up, she looks at the clock and remembers that she was supposed to be in detention for the past forty-five minutes. She tosses down the dishtowel and gathers up the gifts. She takes them to her room to hide them when she bumps into the tall man with the headband.

"Miss Dinone. I've been looking all over campus for you. You are supposed to be in detention. Explain yourself."

Odette recollects her composure, "Sir, I am very sorry. My mother called and wanted me to meet her after school so she could give me this." Odette holds up the box which contains the gifts.

Jim eyes the box and scratches his head. "Well, I suppose I can let it go this time, but you will report to the library after school first thing tomorrow, you understand?"

Odette smiles brightly and gives a polite bow, "Thank you very much, sir!" She turns around and hurries off to her dorm.

After putting away the box, she heads outside with the five small gifts in her arms. She spots Odd and his friends gathered around the same bench where she had spent the entire first half of her day.

"I can't believe your stupid dog tore up our room again." Ulrich says, annoyed.

"Hey, he doesn't know any better. He's only a dog," Odd says, "You shouldn't be so hard on him."

"Yeah well, you should teach him better. You're lucky I don't report you to Principal Delmas."

"Ulrich's right, Odd," Aelita cuts in, "You really shouldn't treat this so lightly. After all, Ulrich was nice enough to keep Kiwi a secret."

"She's right, Odd, and this is the third time it's happened this month."

"Yeah, well that's just great. I guess you all are against me now? Well, if that's the way you want it, just go without me tomorrow!" Just as Odd stands to leave, something causes him to freeze. It is Odette.

"Um, Hello Everyone," She says walking up. She holds out the presents to the group who eyes them curiously.

"What, for me?" Odd asks excitedly.

"For all of you," Odette grins. This is the first time any of them had seen her smile. Odd blushes. She hands each of them one of the delicately-wrapped gifts. "This is just a little something to say thank you for not letting me eat lunch alone on my first day."

There is an awkward pause. No one knows what to say. When they had planned on thanking her for the gift, she thanked them. Finally, someone broke the silence. "Wow!" Yumi says, tearing into the paper, "this is beautiful! These must have cost a fortune!"

Odette shakes her head, although she wouldn't dream of telling them how much the ingredients were worth. "Actually, I made them, myself."

The candy is beautiful. It is mostly chocolate that has been carved to resemble two roses. The stems, leaves, and even thorns were crafted from green and red hard candy that had been melted down and formed. The tiny roses glisten in the sun. They could easily have been picked from an enchanted forest in fairy tales.

There is another awkward silence, and Odd, who has just realized the wrapper contains food, is now tearing at his ribbon furiously to get it off. "You made this?" Yumi asks pointing at the candy in her hand.

Odette nods.

"This must have taken you hours."

Odette shakes her head again, "Thirty minutes." An awkward silence follows. "I'll show you how one day, if you like."

The group nods. Who wouldn't want to see it? "Oh!" Odd remembers, "We're going to the premiere of Zombies vs. Ninjas from the Underworld tomorrow after school! You wanna come?"

Though not completely thrilled by the name, Odette begins to say yes, but then she remembers. "I am sorry, but I have got detention tomorrow."

"Well, that's too bad," Odd says, disappointed.

Not knowing what else to talk about, Odette says, "I'll see you later," and heads back to her dorm, where she pulls out her journal and rips out the first page. On the new first page she writes, "Today is my new beginning, here at Kadic Academy."


End file.
